My interest of Brett has recently been piqued. I was wanting to try a Brett Saison, starting with 565 and racking to secondary where I would add 650 Brett Brux for a while longer. Then I got to thinking about bottle bombs.

My question is, with people adding 650 at bottling or bottling Brett beers after just 2-3 months of pitching the Brett why are their bottles not exploding? Or is it that they are corking and caging???

I thought Brett worked slow and for a long time. Wouldn't the increase in age of the bottled beer also increase the likelihood of bottle bombs? How long after pitching the Brett Brux could I bottle? I don't plan to cork and cage. Any input would be helpful. Thanks!!!

It's dependent on the strength of your bottles and the SG at bottling. Some people won't bottle a sour or brett beer until it is below, say, 1.006. Others wait for a consistent SG reading a few months apart. It really depends on what your plan is. What kind of bottles are you using, etc. Even if you don't have bombs you don't want a few cases of gushers lying around either.

it also depends on the amount of fermentables not always what your sg is, if you mash low and dont have a lot of long chain sugars, then there wont be as much to eat at once it hits the bottle even with priming sugar. there is a lot to consider when using brett and bottling.

Yes but not as significant as the difference between 100% brett primary (boring, in my opinion) and brett mixed in from the beginning. The difference pressure has is different but to me it almost seems to trap more of the volatile aroma compounds when it's in the bottle vs. a long secondary. I think a long secondary makes similar flavors but some of the flavor compounds are likely lost in low amount over time through the air lock. If you can smell it that means it's leaving the beer. So depending on the beer I will add at bottling or just with my primary yeast. My Orval inspired beer was dosed with Orval bottle yeast 2 days before bottling when it was at 1.009. A year later I measured the gravity after a night of degassing and it was 1.005. I bottled in champagne and initially primed the beer for about 3.0 volumes the remainder of my extract provided additional carb and a very typical Orval bretty flavor and aroma.

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OK, so after reading about this I decided to do it. I just bottled a farmhouse stout with Mo Betta Bretta brett that I grew up from dregs. The beer finished at about 1.012. I used Sam Adams Barrel Room bottles plus a couple bombers and 3 12-oz'ers that I will open to check carbonation at 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months. I'm thinking that even if it overcarbs, the big bottles can stand it, so if worst comes to worst I will only have 3 bottle bombs. I can just crash the rest if those 3 explode within 1 month. Either that OR I will have to drop in a quarter-half teaspoon of sugar to each bottle in 6 months. We'll see. In any case, I will be that much wiser.

OK, so after reading about this I decided to do it. I just bottled a farmhouse stout with Mo Betta Bretta brett that I grew up from dregs. The beer finished at about 1.012. I used Sam Adams Barrel Room bottles plus a couple bombers and 3 12-oz'ers that I will open to check carbonation at 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months. I'm thinking that even if it overcarbs, the big bottles can stand it, so if worst comes to worst I will only have 3 bottle bombs. I can just crash the rest if those 3 explode within 1 month. Either that OR I will have to drop in a quarter-half teaspoon of sugar to each bottle in 6 months. We'll see. In any case, I will be that much wiser.

You don't want any bottle to blow, the force of the exploding glass could be deadly if someone is in the room.

The bottles are on a shelf behind cabinet doors and it's sort of storage space anyways. It's only because I have no worries about explosions (except for the pain of cleaning up) that I'm trying this. Anyways, my 1-month check will give me a good indication of how long this will take. Crazy carbonation = crash them immediately. Still beer = not much to worry about for a long while

You don't want any bottle to blow, the force of the exploding glass could be deadly if someone is in the room.

The danger of bottle bombs from brett over attenuating is exagerated. Bottles explode when beer carbs too much and too fast. Bottles aren't very likely to explode when they over carbonate slowly. During bottle refermentation, the pressure is well over the target until the co2 dissolves in the beer. When a beer slowly over-carbs, there is plenty of time for the co2 to dissolve.

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